Does meaning exist? Meaning is a label we automatically apply to everything we can. It is in essence a value judgment based on how much we believe the things we are labeling is going to affect the things we care about. Labeling objects and actions with meaning is a fundamental part of how we construct the representation of the universe that is generated by the firing of neurons inside our heads. If a person has genetic mutations which prevents them from imparting meaning on the representation of the world they generate, they would be drastically less likely to pass on their DNA, compared with somebody without such mutations. The ability to label things with meaning requires specific genes and is an important part of our fitness from an evolutionary point of view.
We are only able to impart meaning on the representation of the world we generate in our heads as this representation can be distorted when it is evolutionary useful to do so. Beyond the representation of reality we generate in our heads there is absolutely no evidence for meaning and no evidence for a framework by which such a notion could exist as an entity in the actual universe. Indeed, the whole notion of meaning only really works when applied to our representation of the universe. When you try to apply notions of meaning to the actual universe it becomes very obvious very quickly how arbitrary and self-serving the whole construct of meaning actually is. Why would the universe care about any of it, buy what mechanism could it care?
In the actual universe meaning doesn’t exist but in your distorted representation of the universe meaning does exist. So where does this leave us. Those very old maps of the world that showed sea monsters around the edges could be seen as distorted representations of the actual world, analogous to our brain’s distorted representation of the world. The physical object of the map exists within the actual world, the physical paper and paint that make up the representation of the sea monsters all exist. The effect that the see monsters picture has on other things that physically exist such as sailors and ships is real, but the sea monsters themselves, they are simply not an accurate representation of anything that actually exists outside the maps distorted representation. Sea monsters exist on paper but only on paper. In a similar way the idea of meaning exists within our neurons but only within our neurons.
In general, we should just except things for exactly what they are instead of forcing them into ill-defined boxes labeled, does and does not exist. It is quite clear that the notion of meaning is just a self-perpetuating, evolutionary beneficial distortion in our representation of the universe which in no way reflects any innate truth about the world.
A problem with asking does meaning exist is that this leans heavily on the meaning of the word exist. Trying to understand the meaning of the word exist as it relates to the concept of meaning is tricky as it gets a little circular and very dependent on precise definitions which not everybody will agree with. Another problem is whether the concept of meaning can survive if we decide it is just a relativistic concept made up by our brains and is essentially arbitrary with respect to the actual reality of the universe. If meaning can only ever be arbitrary and relativistic then does the concept of meaning lose its meaning?
Although saying things are what they are, contains much more truth, if pushed I would probably say that meaning does exist as if it didn’t I couldn’t communicate with you. This said, I would say that people do very much mistake its true nature.
sorry, kinda long